


The Twins Potter

by squarebanana006



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bellatrix is evil, Child Abuse, Gen, Harry Potter - Alternate Universe, Harry Potter Has a Twin, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, im bad at tags, sirius is a good godfather
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29462103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squarebanana006/pseuds/squarebanana006
Summary: “What do you suppose we do with her then, Rowle?” Bellatrix said, dragging out the sentence.“I don’t know. You were the one to ruin the Dark Lord’s plans, you figure it out,” Rowle challenged Bellatrix.After the small group conversed for mere minutes, they formed a solution.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Original Female Character(s), Remus Lupin & Harry Potter, Remus Lupin & Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black & Harry Potter, Sirius Black & Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	1. Godric’s Hollow, 31 October 1981

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I had this idea the other day when watching through OotP. It’s my first fic and I’m kinda nervous about posting this, but here ya go :D  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, those rights go to J.K. Rowling. Anything you are able to recognize is not mine.

“Avada Kedavra!” Lord Voldemort yelled, pointing his wand at the spot where the woman stood only a moment ago. 

Lily Potter had crumpled to the ground, dead.

Voldemort turned his attention to the crib in the corner where the children sat, the bright green in their eyes staring straight at him as if he hadn’t just killed their mother. He took aim once again, aiming straight for the boy’s forehead. He chanted the spell once more, eager to ensure his future success. 

Expecting for the boy to crumble just as the woman on the floor, Voldemort had no time to react when the spell did not go as planned. Something was wrong.

Suddenly, he found himself drained. Drained of power. Drained of motivation. Drained of life. 

Footsteps could be heard from the hall. Bellatrix Lestrange appeared in the door, taking in what was happening. Quickly, her expression changed from one of happiness from just leaving the male’s body downstairs to one of great concern, bordering fear, at the sight before her.

With the last bit of strength that Voldemort could muster, he shouted one last command. He could not lose the boy. “The child!”

Bellatrix’s head turned to the crib. She ran towards it, grabbed the first head she saw, then sprinted to her master’s side. Or what was left of it. With the baby in one hand and her other arm around the Dark Lord, the three disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

***

The wizards and witches, some masked still, clustered around the little bundle, distaste evident in their expressions. Everyone was silent. 

Bellatrix had failed.

Stupidly, in haste, she had grabbed the wrong Potter. The child before them all had not been the boy that Voldemort was so adamant to destroy. No, this was a little girl, the twin. Now, the Dark Lord did not have the strength to even make commands of his followers. What was left of him when Bellatrix apparated had been swiftly whisked away by Dolohov.

The girl’s large green eyes moved from one face to the next, unable to comprehend anything that was happening.

“Let’s kill her,” was suggested by Bellatrix. “The Dark Lord has no use for her. She is not the one spoken of in the prophecy. She is worthless. We could-“

“Are you mad?” Rowle interrupted. “The Dark Lord requested to not be followed tonight. He wanted to carry out the deed himself. We must leave her for him, when he has regained his strength.” Mutters were heard from the group, seemingly in agreement with Rowle.

“What do you suppose we do with her then, Rowle?” Bellatrix said, dragging out the sentence. 

“I don’t know. You were the one to ruin the Dark Lord’s plans, you figure it out,” Rowle challenged Bellatrix. 

Normally, she would not accept being spoken to in this tone, but she did disobey her master. Horrible things lay in her future, surely, for being so reckless. She must make up for it somehow if she expected to survive.

After the small group conversed for mere minutes, they formed a solution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is kinda short. I’m hoping for future chapters to be longer, I just wanted to get some background down first.


	2. Lestrange Manor, June 1988

Alexandra Erin Potter sat on the edge of her bed, if one would even call it that. It was more of a stone slab, raised two feet off the ground, with a single pillow and three thin blankets laying on top.

For the third night in a row, Alex had not slept. There was too much fear in the air, as Madame Lestrange had been on edge lately. The first time that had happened, Alex had not been prepared. She had been woken up even earlier to complete her chores, and then when she accidentally knocked a picture frame from atop the mantle down, Madame Lestrange had not shown any mercy. Alex had to nurse her left leg for two weeks after that first encounter.

Fortunately, Alex had managed to stay out of Bellatrix’s way the past couple of days, but the atmosphere was tense. Something had happened, something that upset Madame Lestrange. What that something was, Alex had no idea. But she had a feeling that Bellatrix’s mood would not soften anytime soon.

The sun had just risen ten minutes ago. Even though Alex could not see out of the single small window high on the wall of her dungeon-like room, the sunrise was her favorite part of the day. Whenever she was able to catch it, she wished it would last twice as long. The hues of red, orange, yellow, and even the subtle pink reflected all around the enclosed space, highlighting even the far corners. Sometimes, Alex would be able to feel the warmth of the sun when laying down on her bed when it was angled just right.

Once the sun had reached a certain point, however, the room became cold once again. The only light source apart from the small window was a singular torch on the wall outside her room, across the hallway. The slats in her door would let it shine through during the day. The only warmth came from the thin blankets on her bed. Over the six years of her stay, Alex had worn the blankets down to mere rags, so many holes in all but one of them that she wasn't sure how the blankets managed to stay together.

The one blanket of the three that was hole-free was important. Alex was sure that she had arrived at the manor in that burgundy fabric. She took extra good care of it, folding it neatly and tucking it underneath the bed when she slept. She planned to wrap up her few belongings in it when she was able to escape this dreadful place. She did not know how or when she would be able to do that, but she was sure that she would get away eventually. She had to.

Alex was pulled out of her thoughts by a loud banging on the door.

“Get out here, you mangy rat! There’s food to serve and places to clean!” Bellatrix’s shrill voice thundered.

Immediately, Alex sprang up. She twisted her side of the doorknob, expecting to find a fuming Bellatrix Lestrange on the other side, glaring down at her. It was not good when she came down to get Alex. To her surprise, the hallway was empty. Bellatrix had already left. With not so much as a single sigh of relief, Alex sprinted to the end of the hall where the staircase began. To keep Madame Lestrange waiting any longer would be wishing for a beating.

 _Ha, you’re going to get one anyways. One way or another, she’ll find something to punish you for,_ Alex reminded herself.

Still, she sped up. She didn’t stop until she reached the kitchens. As fast as she could, Alex fried up two eggs as well as a few sausages. After plating the items in a presentable fashion, she carefully carried them to the dining room. There, she found Bellatrix, eyebrows furrowed as if in deep thought, sitting at the head of the table. No one else was there.

Apprehensively, Alex approached the table and set the plate down in front of Bellatrix. She didn’t seem to notice.

Alex cleared her throat, snapping Bellatrix out of her daze. Slightly flinching away, expecting Bellatrix to slap her for interrupting her thoughts, Alex was relieved when nothing bad happened. “Madame Lestrange, your breakfast,” she said calmly.

“Thank you. That is all. Go tend to your cleaning duties, now,” Bellatrix said, sending Alex away with a wave of her hand.

Alex turned around and sped off, following orders, but had a shocked expression written on her face. Surprised would be an understatement. Did Madame Lestrange just _thank_ her? There was no way that the words “thank you” came out of her mouth. No, she must have misheard. Maybe she’s still sleeping and this is all a dream. She’ll wake up and find Bellatrix in a horrible mood and be slapped right as she opens her eyes. Yeah, that must be it.

But as she dusted the bookshelves in the library, Alex never awoke from this dream. Perhaps it wasn’t a dream after all. _Or maybe Madame Lestrange has finally cracked_ , her brain added. Alex quickly removed this thought from her mind. It was not nice to think such things.

Later that day, Alex was finishing up the dining room. She had just wiped down the large table, one of her last tasks for the day, when she heard voices from the next room over. She looked to find the door leading to the spacious living room slightly ajar. She really shouldn’t eavesdrop, it could get her in serious trouble, but she has gotten away with it before. Slowly, as to not make any unnecessary sounds, Alex inched towards the door.

What she found was nothing out of the ordinary. Madame Lestrange has had many guests over the years, with this woman to be a recurring visitor. Narcissa Malfoy was a familiar face indeed. After all, she was Bellatrix’s sister.

As Alex tuned into the conversation, she could tell that both women were upset. They were speaking fast, talking over each other sometimes. Their voices were barely high enough to make out.

“I’m not one for dawdling, sister… he’s out… they’ve caught him…,” Mrs. Malfoy’s words were difficult to discern.

Out? Caught? Who’s out of where? And who was caught? There were so many questions swimming through Alex’s mind.

“Our darling little cousin…” Bellatrix was speaking a little louder. There was no hint of love in her voice, perhaps there was maybe even some disgust. “I’ve heard some news. How did he manage to escape?” It was a question that caused Bellatrix to retreat back into her own thoughts. Narcissa allowed her to ponder for a moment before speaking once again.

“It was that old nut job, Dumbledore… I heard they caught Pettigrew… I suppose there was a trial and he was acquitted.”

Narcissa continued after a pause, “What needs to be done, sister?”

Bellatrix had looked like she finally broke. Her mouth curved into a devilish grin and she let out a giggle. Apparently she was not concerned about the news of whoever, perhaps this Pettigrew, getting out and then being caught again.

“Done? Done?!” A terrifying cackle escaped her mouth. “Sirius Black does not concern me! If he got out of Azkaban and they took Pettigrew instead, I say good riddance to Pettigrew. A brainless buffoon he was, if you ask me!” Bellatrix was almost shouting at this point.

Alex was concerned now. Her mind was swimming with new information. In the six years she had lived with Madame Lestrange, she had not once heard the names Pettigrew or Sirius Black. Going back over the conversation, it was difficult for seven-year-old Alex to piece together the information. Eventually, she figured it out that they were speaking of _Sirius_ as their “darling little cousin” and _Pettigrew_ as the “brainless buffoon.” One thing that Alex had taken note of was the way in which these new names were spoken of. Bellatrix had spoken of both names with distaste, but she seemed to downright despise Sirius Black as the conversation went on.

After 5 more minutes of eavesdropping, she became fearful of getting caught doing something she was not supposed to be doing. So, she moved back over to the table where she left her rag and began to re-wipe the dining room table down.

Alex proceeded with her last task of the day, dusting down the living room furniture, with caution. As she entered the room, neither of the women seemed to even take notice of her. As she went about the fireplace mantle, her thoughts were clouded with the conversation, which had now changed to a topic Alex did not want to overhear.

 _If Madame Lestrange and Mrs. Malfoy disliked Sirius Black, then that must mean that I would like him_ , was a thought that crossed Alex’s mind and she quickly decided that it was one thing she was sure of. _Perhaps he is even their enemy? Maybe he would help me? No, I’m not worth anyone’s time, no one would go out of their way to help me._

Attempting to not allow her thoughts to distract her too much, Alex pushed them away until later. She finished her tasks, alerted Madame Lestrange, got her usual first meal of bread, potatoes, and a simple sandwich from the kitchens, and made her way down to her dungeon.

Later that night, after her dinner of a small helping of shepherd’s pie and various steamed vegetables had been pushed through a slit in her door, she laid down on top of one of the blankets and pulled the other one over her body. Alex slowly drifted off, still distracted from the night’s earlier events.


	3. Lestrange Manor, 20 April 1991

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warning: that tag I used for Child Abuse is coming into play in this chapter, just a heads up.  
> Also, I feel like I should mention that I am American trying to use British slang where applicable. I don’t know a lot of British slang, so if there are any corrections I need to make, please let me know.

As more years passed, things in the Lestrange manor did not improve. After that one day and conversation with Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix was on edge more and more. Alex found her to be easily annoyed. More beatings occurred for small accidents, and they became increasingly worse and worse. Recently, Madame Lestrange had threatened the use of the Cruciatus curse. Alex had seen it used before from the sidelines. She did not want to endure that.

Bellatrix had let herself go. Her hair became wild and unruly. It seemed that even a brush would not be able to cut through the dark curls. Alex would catch her muttering things to herself throughout the day, sometimes even having complete conversations with someone that wasn’t even there. Alex already tried to stay away from Madame Lestrange as much as possible, but she found herself constantly fearful of turning a corner and running into the woman. 

However, there was one new privilege Alex received when she turned eight that she enjoyed greatly. On Saturdays, after completing all daily chores, she was allowed to spend the rest of the day in the library, if she so desired, as well as keep one book with her in her quarters. She made the most out of this privilege. Each Saturday, Alex would begin a new book, usually about the outside world. She wanted to learn as much about the wizarding world as she could. There was so much out there that she was missing. If she couldn’t experience it firsthand, at least she could read about it.

Since that day three years ago, Alex had remembered everything that she could. She still remembered the names of the people from that conversation—Sirius Black and Pettigrew—and had since come to the conclusion that Mr. Black was on her side, whatever that was. The more Bellatrix talked of Mr. Black, the more Alex seemed to like him. He was against the Dark Lord, much to Bellatrix’s dismay, just as Alex was. As Alex grew older, Madame Lestrange had tried to convince her that the Dark Lord was the one to follow, that everyone else was the enemy. Just the fact that Bellatrix was preaching his word to her was enough for her to choose the other side. She would not give Bellatrix the satisfaction of influencing her, Alexandra Erin Potter, to join the side of evil.

It was April 20, 1991. Alex was now ten years old, and Madame Lestrange thought that was old enough to know that making mistakes in that household was bad.

Alex had woken up not twenty minutes ago. She had just served breakfast to an upset Bellatrix Lestrange and had carried on to washing the dishes. About halfway through the task, Alex found herself scrubbing a knife—a normal task that she had completed thousands of times before—when she felt a sharp sting on her finger. Looking down, a familiar red substance had begun trickling down her finger. Blood.

_ Stupid,  _ Alex chastised herself,  _ you know better than to cut yourself. _

She found herself unusually angered by this small occurrence, which she began chastising herself for again. Anger was not an acceptable feeling. 

She went about rinsing off her finger and let the water rush over her hand as she grabbed for the next dish. Distracted from internally chastising herself, Alex did not realize the course of her arm until it was too late.

Suddenly, there were three plates that had fallen to the ground, shattered into a million pieces.

Instantly, she dropped to the ground, trying to pick up all the pieces. She wasn’t even noticing the small cuts they were leaving on her lower legs and palms of her hands, all she knew was that she had made a mistake.

Alex could hear footsteps coming down the hall quickly. She rushed even more. Madame Lestrange must not see that she made a mess and broke some dishes. 

It was too late. Bellatrix walked into the room and her face immediately darkened.

“How dare you! You little mutt, you know better! Destroying things that aren’t yours, you worthless piece of trash!” Bellatrix was screaming, that’s all she ever did nowadays.

“I’m sorry, Madame Lestrange,” Alex tried to stammer out. “I’ll clean it up right away. It won’t happen again, I pro-“

Bellatrix had approached her and raised her hand. Before she knew it, Alex felt a sting across her cheek and had been knocked back into the cabinets. Bellatrix approached her again. She brought her foot back and kicked Alex in her sides, hard. With one swift movement, she had her wand out and had it levitate the young girl. Not a second later, Alex was flung across the room and landed against the wall with a loud groan.

Alex laid on the floor, groaning, sides and face stinging. Madame Lestrange ordered her to finish her cleaning duties and then return to her quarters with no meal before leaving the room. Alex waited until she had left to raise her head and, slowly, stand back up. She winced in pain with every step she took. 

Limping slightly, Alex walked across the hall to retrieve the broom, then went back to the kitchen to clean up her mess. After completing the dishes, she went to clean the library. 

Normally, after a beating, all Alex felt was pain and sadness for letting Madame Lestrange down. But, this time, Alex was filled with rage.  _ It was only three stupid plates. She could have repaired them herself with her wand. Why does she hate me so much? Maybe I am just as useless as she says. I mean, I can't even clean the dishes properly,  _ thoughts raced through Alex’s head. She was furious that she always got beat. Bellatrix had no good reason to hit her.

While dragging the rag over the desk in the library, Alex’s eyes were drawn to a single piece of blank parchment with its corner sticking out of a drawer. Suddenly, an idea latched itself onto her mind. No, she could never do that. Besides, there was no way he even knew her or would pay her any attention. But, yet, as Alex continued to dust the bookshelves, the idea began to develop more and more. What if…

Quickly, before she could change her mind, Alex grabbed the parchment—with caution, Bellatrix had mentioned before that everything in the house was enchanted or cursed in one way or another—and quickly found some ink and a quill on the desk. As fast as her fingers would move, she jotted down what she hoped would help her in the long run. When she finished, the writing barely reached eight inches. Scribbling a name on the back of the paper and carefully rolling it up, she stuck it in the pocket of her trousers. Lastly, she placed the ink and quill back in the exact spots they were in beforehand.

She left the library, walking as quietly as her limp would allow her, and made her way to the other end of the manor. Alex had cleaned Bellatrix’s personal quarters only thrice that she could remember, but the layout of the house was ingrained in her head. There was only one more thing she needed, an owl.

There were two owls in the place, but the other one was loyal to Madame Lestrange. Alex, on the other hand, had gained the trust of Erebus, a jet-black owl, early on in life. As she learned to read and write, Bellatrix became fearful of Alex attempting to reach out via owl, so she brought Erebus into her own room, denying Alex any interaction with the bird. It had been well over four years since Alex had seen the bird, she had no idea where his loyalties laid anymore, or even if he was still alive.

Walking through the seemingly endless halls, Alex looked back more times than she could count, terrified of being caught. As she approached the door to Bellatrix’s room, she suddenly found herself wanting to turn back. If she was caught trying to send a letter… she had no idea what punishment would be inflicted on her. Still, she persisted. She  _ needed  _ help. Staying here… she would be dead within a matter of months, surely.

Carefully opening the door, Alex breathed a sigh of relief when she found that not only was Madame Lestrange nowhere to be found, but there was a cage in the corner of the room that held a small, black owl.

As soon as she came into view of Erebus, the bird’s wings began to flap. He was excited, it seemed. Fearful of him making too much noise, Alex calmed him.

“Shh, shh, buddy. You’ve got to be quiet.” As soon as the whispers left her mouth, he instantly stilled. The room was silent once more.

Slowly, Alex pulled open the cage door and allowed Erebus to climb on her arm. She took out the letter and held it out for him to take. With no string to tie it to his leg, he grabbed it, gently, with his beak. Awaiting instructions for where to go, he looked expectantly at Alex.

She moved to the window, slid it open just enough for Erebus to fly through, and leaned her head close to his to whisper the name of the receiver. Quietly, as if the name was cursed, she spoke two words:

_ “Sirius Black.” _

With no further directions needed, Erebus jumped off her arm and onto the windowsill. He spread his wings and leapt into the air. Without hesitating, Alex closed the window, ran out of the room, and sprinted back to the library to complete her chores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that 12 Grimmauld Place is under the Fidelius charm, but I’m pretty sure the books mention the kids receiving their Hogwarts letters for what supplies they need while there. So, that makes me think that owls are just smart enough to find someone based on a name.


	4. Grimmauld Place, 20 April 1991

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a longer one :D Almost 4k words, probably the most I’ve ever written in the span of two days lol

The Order of the Phoenix was reformed three years ago. Albus Dumbledore had decided to, out of the blue, visit one Sirius Black in Azkaban. There, Sirius managed to convince the old man what had really happened that night. Next, a two-week long hunt for a certain rat commenced, and when Peter Pettigrew was arrested and then convicted with the murder of twelve muggles, as well as an accomplice in the murders of James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black was released from Azkaban and declared innocent. After that ordeal, Dumbledore had decided to reform the Order of the Phoenix. This idea had been created when, during his trial, veritaserum had been administered to Mr. Pettigrew, and he had mentioned trying to help his master regain strength and return him to a fully-functioning body. While it hadn’t been done as of yet, there was no doubt in Dumbledore’s mind that other Death Eaters were still loyal and attempting to help Voldemort in the same way. The Order had since been dedicated to catching Death Eaters with enough evidence that could get them sent to Azkaban.

Some members from the original Order had returned—Dumbledore, Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Mundungus Fletcher, Remus Lupin, Rubeus Hagrid, Severus Snape, and Sirius Black—but there were also some new faces. When Peter had been tracked back to the Weasley family, and the parents in the family had heard about the Order, they had decided to join, followed by their oldest son, Bill. The second oldest, Charlie, planned on joining as soon as he graduated from Hogwarts in a few months. While Andromeda Tonks, cousin to Sirius Black, was not part of the Order, she supported their ideals. Her daughter, Nymphadora, was in the same situation as Charlie, planning on joining as soon as she graduated. Among other new members, there was Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minerva McGonagall, and Hestia Jones.

Currently, the members had met in the dining room of Number 12 Grimmauld Place and were frustrated that they had not had any new leads. They had, in fact, not had any new leads in months. They all knew there were hundreds, if not thousands, of Death Eaters out there lurking, but they had all seemed to disappear. 

“Kreacher!” Sirius bellowed, summoning the house elf. “Go brew some more tea,” he said, resting his head in his hands. He was exhausted. The elf disappeared with a  _ poof _ , returning moments later with new cups of the hot drink.

“Severus, are there any more names you can recall?” Mad-Eye asked the former Death Eater.

“None that would leave behind any evidence as to where their loyalties lay,” Snape answered, annoyed, as he had answered this same question exactly the same each time the Order met.

“I say we look into the higher ranking families. I’ve heard that Malfoy has been doing some questionable things as of late,” Mundungus chimed in. Sirius flinched slightly at the mention of his cousin’s family. He had opened his mouth to speak, but Dumbledore beat him to it.

“It would be unwise to go after such a high class family. I’m sure they have contacts and wards placed for their protection.” This raised some whispers among the group. A mutter was heard from Mundungus that they had to do something and that he could go after whoever he wanted. Soon, there were people arguing and then an all-out shouting match ensued.

Sirius, who was beginning to feel the beginnings of a headache, got out of his seat to go lean against the doorframe, watching the others with little interest. This had been how most Order meetings had ended up in the last few months. People were irritated that so many Death Eaters were hiding in plain sight.

He could see Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall standing off to the side, all three looking tired. As he searched the group, looking at all the faces, he noticed that one was missing from the group. Before he could do anything, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. Turning his head, Sirius saw the missing face.

“You okay, Padfoot?” Remus asked. “No offense, but you look horrible.”

That got a grin out of the younger man. “I’m fine, just a bit tired. He was up again last night with a nightmare, took ages to get him back asleep.” A slight frown found its way to both of the men’s faces.

“Again? It’s been over a year. Maybe you should take him to see a healer.”

“I don’t know, Moony. I just want him to have some peace, for once. Those blasted aunt of uncle of his really messed with him. It’s just that-“ 

Sirius cut himself off when he heard a faint  _ thump.  _ He didn’t know where it was coming from, so he waited to listen again. 

“Sirius?-“

“Shh.” The hushed request to be quiet told Remus that there was something wrong. He listened too.

Soon, another faint  _ thump _ . 

This instantly raised alarms within both Sirius and Remus.

“Everyone, quiet!” Sirius all but screamed at the group. The group silenced. Not two seconds later, another  _ thump _ .

With the place now quiet, everyone heard it and heads raised in alertness, hands moving to grab wands. One more  _ thump  _ four seconds later had everyone rushing to the main sitting room near the front of the house. Remus led the group, bursting into the room expecting to find some kind of unwanted threat. 

It appeared to be empty.

One last  _ thump  _ turned his and everyone else’s attention to the window in the far right corner of the room. That window faced the street. Approaching it, he saw a quite unexpected sight. A small, black owl was continuously pounding against the window, trying to alert someone that it was there and wanted inside.

He motioned that there was no immediate threat, and many of the witches and wizards put their wands away. Suddenly, Kreacher appeared with a scowl on his face.

“Kreacher shall get rid of the pest for master,” the elf mumbled. He moved to go shoo it off, but Sirius spoke up.

“No, we need to know why it’s here. Go let it in.” Normally, messages for the Order were sent through Patronuses, so that letters couldn’t be intercepted and their plans revealed. Sirius wondered who had sent the owl and what the message was.

Kreacher opened the window and the small black wad of feathers flew straight into the room, resting on one of the arms of a chair. The piece of parchment in its beak was clearly visible to everyone, letting them know it had a message to pass on. It surveyed the room for a few moments, then its eyes settled on Sirius and it zoomed over to him. Sirius put his arm out for it to land on.

The owl carefully landed on the outstretched arm and then held the letter out for Sirius to take. After he grabbed on to the parchment, the owl flew back to its place on the chair.

Sirius stared apprehensively at the paper in his hands. In small, clear handwriting on the back, his name was printed neatly. He couldn’t even remember the last time he received an owl with a letter specifically for him. After the news of his release from Azkaban blew over, he stopped getting letters altogether except for a few important responses he had been expecting. He was definitely not expecting this.

Opening the letter, he noticed the same small, neat handwriting run across the page. Reading the first line, his eyes grew and his jaw slackened. Before he could push any of his hope away, he read through the rest of it and his expression only seemed to become more shocked. Then, it became apprehensive. Reading it for the fourth time, it was downright distrusting. 

Remus had looked closely at his face when he was reading it. He was very curious as to what could have put such a shocked expression on his friend’s face. “What does it say?”

“There’s no way this is true. It can’t be. She’s- she’s dead…” Sirius mumbled under his breath. 

“What? Who’s dead?” Remus asked gently, thinking for a moment that someone close to Sirius had just passed and this was a letter informing him of it. But then he took into account the tone Sirius said it and became even more curious.

Many of the other members must have thought the same thing that originally went through Remus’s mind, as they turned to leave Sirius some privacy to take it in.

Sirius just looked up at Remus with wide eyes and suddenly Remus just knew that it was more than someone dying. 

“Moony, the letter is from an Alexandra E. Potter-”

Remus’s face darkened. He and everyone else close to the Potters had mourned the death of the little girl along with her parents nine years ago. Someone was trying to pull a very unfunny prank and they were not going to like the consequences of taking such a serious event and lying about it.

“-and… it’s actually believable…” Sirius finished. 

“No, no, this must be someone trying to get to you. It can’t be real, she…” he trailed off.

“Yes, Remus, I know. But just read it, it-“

“No, I-I can’t.”

“Just read it.” 

With that, Remus found the letter shoved into his hands and he looked down at it. It, indeed, was signed by an Alexandra E. Potter in neat cursive under the main writing with a following postscript. The vocabulary used seemed like it could be from a slightly smarter-than-average ten-year-old… and the story written lined up with the years… 

_ No, Remus, this must be a trick _ , he tried to convince himself.

“Remus, if this is actually her, that means…” Sirius started but then trailed off, reaching back for the letter. With it back in his hands, Sirius reached for his wand with an idea. He pointed his wand at the parchment and an orange light appeared at the tip, streaming to the paper.

The paper began to glow a similar light orange, then the words seemed to duplicate, with a copy of them floating off the page and over to a desk in the corner of the room. Before the men’s eyes, the levitating letters contracted and expanded, straightened and twisted, forming an outlined image of the original writer hunched over the desk with a quill in her hand. 

The men approached the figure, trying to take a look at her face. From behind, the outline showed locks of wavy hair that billowed halfway down her back. At a closer look, she appeared to be very skinny and small, but her facial features did seem like they could belong to a ten-year-old. Upon looking at her face, both Sirius and Remus let out a small gasp. She looked almost exactly like Lily had, with almond-shaped eyes and delicate features. There was no doubt that the two were related.

She was staring apprehensively at the blank piece of paper in front of her. Then, she moved her hand with the quill and made a motion of dipping it in an ink well—there was none visible in the conjured image—before bringing it over the parchment. As soon as she placed the tip of the quill on the paper’s surface, a quiet, gentle, but seemingly exhausted voice echoed throughout the room. 

~~_ Mr. Black _ ~~ _ Sirius Black, _

_ I know you don’t know me, but my name is Alex Potter. I am ten years old and am writing from Madam Lestrange’s  _ ~~_ liba _ ~~ _ library. She is a cruel woman, but she has taken care of me for nine years. A few years ago, I came to know of your name when her and her sister were  _ ~~_ tak _ ~~ _ talking. Since then, I have learned that you stand against You-Know-Who, as do I. I am hoping that this is enough for you to listen to this letter.  _

_ I need some help, you see. This house is awful and I need to leave, but she’s keeping me here. She said you were her ~~couz~~ cousin, and I am hoping you know where I am, it would be too risky writing it down.  _

_ I do not know if you will ever receive this letter, as I have no idea where you live. I am putting faith in Erebus that he will find you and deliver it safely. I must get back to my chores before she suspects something. _

_ Sincerely, _

_ Alexandra E. Potter _

_ P.S. Please take care of Erebus. If he were to return, she would know and I would be punished. He is a very friendly owl. _

The voice faded out and the image froze as she put the quill down. Shortly after, the image faded as well. Sirius and Remus looked at each other in agreement. Someway, somehow, the daughter of their lost best friends was still alive. And she was living with  _ Bellatrix Lestrange _ . The thought made Sirius’s blood boil. He would not, under any circumstance, let his goddaughter suffer at the hands of his cousin any longer. Remus seemed to be livid, as well, from the news.

They both looked over to the small bird, still sitting on the chair, his head half cocked to one side. 

Sirius looked back down at the paper then up at him again. “Erebus?”

Erebus chirped and flapped his wings at the recognition of his name, but made no move to leave his spot on the chair. 

“Okay, Erebus. We need to get to Alex and you need to show us the way.”

Remus went wide-eyed at his friend. “Sirius, we can’t just yet. We have to have a plan. Going there—wherever she is—half-cocked without any backup or a plan is a suicide mission.”

Sirius considered his friend’s words and realized he was right. 

“But we have the entire Order here, we could all come up with a plan and go get her,” Remus continued. In unspoken agreement, they left the room and made their way back to the dining room with everyone else. They could hear Erebus following them, his wings flapping in rhythm with their footsteps.

Entering the room filled with people, the letter in Sirius’s hand, they seemed out of place. Their determined looks did not match those of the angry glares between Snape and Moody and everyone else’s awkward stances. Heads snapped to the two men, relieved to be distracted from whatever had transpired. Still thinking that someone Sirius knew had died, most of their looks turned to one of sympathy.

Sirius stood there, awkwardly under everyone else’s gazes. Eventually, he said, rather loudly, “Nobody died!”

The expressions of everyone changed instantly, feeling embarrassed. But before anyone could say anything, Sirius held up the letter and dropped it on the table.

“This is our priority right now.”

Everyone just stared at it, too far away to make out the small letters. Sighing, Sirius took out his wand and cast the familiar orange light. The words moved to the nearest chair and formed the young girl. Snape had a clear view of her face, and his face paled. She looked so similar to the woman he once loved. Other people began whispering in confusion, but then silenced to hear the words. After the letter had been read aloud, faces wore shocked expressions.

“She’s…” Hagrid blubbered out, his eyes were shining. 

“Yes, Alex is alive. And we need to go rescue her from my deranged cousin. Now.”

“After we form a plan,” Remus added in.

“I agree,” Dumbledore offered. “I would suggest it best for Alastor to be put in charge of the rescue strategy.”

Alastor wasted no time in agreeing. While he wasn’t particularly close with the Potters, the girl was still a child and didn’t deserve any of what she had gotten. He gathered a group of people and walked out of the kitchen to find somewhere quiet to come up with a plan.

Just as people began leaving the room, Sirius could hear footsteps coming down the stairwell. Moments later, he could see the boy’s head of unruly black hair bound down the stairs. 

“Sirius?” Harry asked, approaching the man. “What’s going on?”

Sighing, Sirius crouched down to the younger boy’s level. He needed to know. She was his sister after all. 

“C’mon, pup. I-“ before continuing on, Sirius looked up at Remus, who was looking at Harry, concerned. He was going to need help explaining everything. Remus just nodded, answering the unasked question from Sirius. “We need to talk to you.”

This elicited a confused yet curious look from the young boy as the three of them walked up the stairs into Harry’s temporary room. Sitting on the bed, both older men turned towards the younger.

“Harry, you remember us telling you about your sister?” A nod from the boy answered the question. Remus continued. “You remember how we told you that- she had…  _ disappeared  _ that night?” Another nod. 

Sirius picked up from there. “Well, we all thought she had, well, died,” he said, wincing slightly.

“Where are you going with this?” Harry asked.

“Harry, Alex is alive,” it was almost whispered. 

The young boy’s eyes grew. “What?!” Looking back and forth at the men, he said, still shocked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We didn’t know until today,” Remus said.

“How’d you find out?”

“She sent me a letter,” Sirius said with a slight chuckle. With that, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to Harry.

Harry hesitated before opening it. After reading through it a few times, he suddenly handed the paper back to Sirius hastily and jumped off the bed, trying to pull both Remus and Sirius with him to the door.

“Woah, pup. What are you doing?”

“We have to go rescue her!” Harry said, determinedly. “She’s in trouble and she’s my sister! We have to go get her!”

Both older men had smiles on their faces upon seeing his determined reaction. 

“Harry, I’m sorry, but you can’t come with us. It's much too dangerous,” Remus told the now frowning child.

“I know, I know. I’m just a kid, right? Well, you two are adults! You can go get her!”

“Mad-Eye is coming up with a rescue strategy right now, Prongslet. As soon as he’s done, we’ll be able to go get her, I promise.” Harry rolled his eyes somewhat at the now-outdated pet name(he much preferred “pup” from Sirius and Remus), before continuing to drag them down the stairs. 

Upon reaching the door where Harry could make out voices coming from, Sirius and Remus stopped him.

“Harry you can’t come in,” Sirius said.

“Why not? I wanna hear the plan.”

“It’s for adults only.” They did not want a child as young as Harry to know about the Order. When there were meetings, Sirius simply told him that he was meeting with friends.

When Remus opened the door and the two went inside the room, Mrs. Weasley came out. As she walked out Harry could hear her calling back, “It’s no trouble! Alastor doesn’t need me for this mission, I’m more than happy to look after him for a while.” She ushered Harry into the kitchen, multiple rooms away from the now closed door, and proceeded to cook something. 

“I’m sorry that Ron couldn’t come, Harry. He’s been coughing up a storm lately and running a fever. The potions he’s taking should have him back on his feet in a couple days.” 

“It’s alright, Mrs. Weasley.” Harry was a little bummed out he couldn’t see his friend. They only really saw each other when there was a meeting at Grimmauld Place. Other than that, Harry was either with Sirius at his house or at the once-monthly day spent with the Dursleys that was required by the Ministry of Magic. He frowned at that. When Sirius had been released from Azkaban, one of the first things he did was try to gain custody of his godson. However, even after the countless attempts on Sirius’s part, no judge would grant someone who had spent six years in Azkaban custody of a child. They were afraid that he had gone mad and was not suitable to care for a ward. Sirius was only able to visit the Dursley house for seven days per month, which usually resulted in disaster due to the muggles’ resentment of anything magical. However, Harry always looked forward to those seven days. That was until just over a year ago. Sirius had never stopped trying to gain custody, and eventually he found a judge that was on his side a little more. She had granted Sirius partial custody of Harry. It was one of the happiest days of both Sirius and Harry’s lives. However, there was also a drawback. Once a month, Harry was required to spend a day with his horrid aunt, uncle, and cousin while a Ministry worker checked on his well-being. It was always the 15th day of every month. The Ministry worker was only sent to make sure that Harry was where he was supposed to be. In Harry’s mind, that was living with Sirius. But no one ever listened to the ten-year-old’s wishes during those trials for custody.

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts as Mrs. Weasley placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. It was too late for breakfast, seeing as the clock read almost 2 pm, but he wasn’t complaining about the food. The nightmare from last night still had him somewhat spooked and he had largely ignored his breakfast earlier. Now, he was too anxious upon hearing that his sister was alive and that they were going to rescue her. He had no memories of Alex, just a couple stories that Sirius and Remus had passed on from when the twins were younger. Sirius once mentioned that he got them both a small training broom for their birthday. While Harry had been zooming around with little control but incredible balance, Alex seemed to be quite the opposite. She had excellent control of the broom, apparently, but only when she managed to stay on it. 

Harry wondered what she looked like. Did she have the black hair that their father and he had? Or perhaps the red hair of their mother? Did she have the striking green eyes of both him and their mother? Maybe their father’s hazel eyes? He wondered if she needed to wear glasses like he did. Was she taller than him? Harry scrunched his nose at the thought of being the shortest in the house, except for Kreacher. There were so many questions running through Harry’s brain as he mindlessly shoveled the scrambled eggs into his mouth slowly. 

Either he lost track of time, or the adults hadn’t been in the room very long, because suddenly he was drawn back to reality as voices came from down the hallway. Immediately, he got up and ran to meet them by the door. When he got there, it seemed that there were six of them getting ready to leave; Mad-Eye, Sirius, Remus, Kingsley, Dedalus, and Hestia. They each had a broom in their hand.

He caught Sirius’ gaze right before the older man approached him. “Harry, Mrs. Weasley is going to look after you for now. We’ll be back in a few hours, okay?” 

Harry barely had any time to make out an “okay” in response before Sirius placed a quick kiss to his forehead as a way of saying _I’ll_ _be back soon, I promise. Everything’s going to be alright._ Then, the six members had disappeared out the door and Harry was left with the remaining adults. Feeling awkward, he quickly made his way back to the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley and sat down to finish his bacon, once again anxious to meet his sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How’d you guys like it? I wanted to really add in my own twists to the story and I feel like I’m liking the story so far. I have an idea where I want it to go, but there’s a lot that needs to be done before then.  
> Also, I’m probably going to be adding in more of my own spells like that orange light one Sirius used for the letter, but I’m not sure yet.


	5. 20 April 1991

The six Order members walked down the street a little ways; to get past the wards prohibiting tracking spells. At the end of the street, Sirius pulled out a small, black feather from his pocket. Pointing his wand at it, he muttered, “Avenseguim,” and it started speeding off down the street, leaving a short trail of orange to follow. 

As it was making its way back to the house to find Erebus, Mad-Eye muttered another spell under his breath and the feather turned around, zooming away from the row of houses and up towards the clouds. Before it could leave anyone’s sights, they all mounted their brooms, cast disillusionment charms hoping it would be enough to disguise them, and took off after the feather. 

* * *

Alex was in one of the guest rooms with Babble, the Lestrange’s house elf. Bellatrix had had guests over since right after Alex sent off her letter. She had been ordered to clean out the rarely-used rooms for two of the guests to stay the night. Alex had seen them before, of course, but not for quite some time. It had, indeed, been over a year and a half since Mr. Rowle had last come to speak with Madame Lestrange. 

Alex was getting tired of cleaning out this room. She had been scrubbing this wall for almost twenty minutes nonstop, attempting to get a red stain out, of which Alex wanted to think of as wine but was not quite sure. She could see Babble finish up with dusting the nightstands before moving to grab another brush. Just as Alex was about to give up on this dreadful stain, she could hear shouting come from somewhere. Definitely inside the house. Perhaps the sitting room, Alex decided.

 _That’s odd,_ she thought. _Madame hates unnecessary noise. Noise leads to shouting which leads to anger which leads to things being thrown across the room and the need to clean up the resulting mess. I might as well go see what damage was done._

As swiftly as she could, Alex moved through the halls. One right, two lefts, one more right, then the door was straight ahead. 

_Yep, it was coming from the sitting room for sure._

Reaching for the handle, Alex paused at the unfamiliar voice.

“Bella, WHERE IS SHE?”

_Who was this? Obviously a man’s thunder, but only Mrs. Malfoy had ever called Madame Lestrange “Bella.” Not even her husband had before. Also, who is he looking for?_

The voice went on angrily as she continued for the doorknob. Turning it and pushing the door open quietly, she made to walk to the side wall, to patiently wait for the shouting to end. 

Except, as soon as she opened the door, _all_ voices stopped. Lifting her gaze from the floor to the people in the room, she was quite confused.

Everyone was staring at _her_. She felt uncomfortable under all the gazes. But why would they take any interest in her? She’s just a kid, a servant more like.

Surveying the room briefly, there were eleven faces. She recognized five of them: Madam and Sir Lestrange, Mr. Rowle, and two others that had previously visited. However, she had never seen these other six faces. There was a tall, bald man in the back of the room, with a petite black-haired woman not too far away from him. In front of them stood the other four men: one quite short and wearing a purple hat, a light-brown haired one, one with dark hair, and finally the last one had a wooden leg and a strange eye. 

For some reason, all that could come to Alex’s mind was: _What a strange lot._

A moment was all Alex had to look at the new guests, as suddenly Bellatrix had her wand out and shot a purple spell straight at the dark-haired man, which he promptly blocked. That had everyone throwing spell after spell at the opposing side.

Alex found herself in the middle of a battle with no idea what to do. Her already fearful eyes scanned the room, growing even larger when a chair not two feet to her right was levitated and thrown across the room. Acting on impulse, she turned for the door. Sprinting, she was halfway there when a shadow passed over her head, causing her to duck as a rogue table came hurtling past her, landing four paces in front of her. Halting suddenly to a dead stop, she turned on her heels and picked her pace back up.

She didn’t know what she was doing. There were spells being thrown everywhere, furniture was soaring through the air left and right, and it didn’t seem like it would stop in the next ten seconds. Meanwhile, she was running around aimlessly, attempting to dodge any end tables or candlesticks that came her way. 

_Shelter._ That’s what she needed, a place to hide. Searching frantically about the room, Alex's eyes landed on an untouched end table in the far corner of the room. 

She made a beeline for it, nearly getting hit by a bright red spell and another of those purple spells in the process. She was about ten feet away when she tripped on something. Looking down at her foot, her eyes filled with horror. Rowle was laying on the ground, pinned down, and had grabbed her ankle as she passed, unaware of his presence. She struggled to get away, but his grip held strong. 

“Let go of me!” Alex screamed, drawing the attention of the nearest stranger. The man with lighter hair shot a quick spell at the captor, causing Rowle to release his hold. In a final act of defiance, Alex kicked him swiftly in the face before getting back up and making it to the table. 

She pushed it away from the wall just enough for her to climb behind to hide. Sitting down between the wood and wall, she could hear everything going on behind her. So much shouting. So many crashes. A shout of pain here, another one there. Her ankle throbbed from Rowle’s grasp. Her body trembled slightly.

She felt a tear slowly slip down her cheek. Quickly, she swiped it away. _Now is not the time for tears._

With as much calmness as she could muster, she waited. She waited for the cries to stop, for the bangs to halt. She waited, wishing for the fear to go away.

Finally, after what seemed like hours but it couldn’t have lasted more than six or seven minutes, everything seemed to have ceased.

Turning around slowly so she could peer out from behind the table, she found herself not able to see very far in front of her. There was something blocking her path. Looking to climb over the furniture, she noticed most of the space above her head was also covered. The only light source was coming from a hole too small for her to climb through. 

She didn’t want to make too much noise moving everything out of the way, afraid of these new strangers that she knew nothing about. So, she waited just a little longer. After a short silence, she could hear voices.

“Kingsley, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good. One of them got me in the side but I’ll be alright.”

“Where’s Hestia?”

“I’m right here!” followed by a small _crash_ as furniture was moved out of the way. “I’m alright!”

The room was silent for a few seconds before a man’s voice hesitantly called out, “Alex?”

The young girl froze behind her table. _How did they know her name?_ She stayed as silent as she could, not daring to even breathe.

“Merlin, please be okay. Alex?” She stayed silent. The calls became more frantic and she could hear the people moving furniture out of the way.

She cowered against the corner where the table met the wall. Accidentally putting too much pressure when leaning backwards, the table scooted backwards, making a loud _creak_ against the floor. Before she could sit forward, the table toppled over causing the chair that was laying on top to fall down and bonk her squarely on the head.

“Ow…” she mumbled, reaching up to rub where she had been hit. Luckily, there was no blood on her hand when she brought it back to look at her palm.

Without noticing, footsteps came rushing towards her(along with the _thuds_ of the one man’s wooden leg), stopping only a few feet away. Suddenly aware of the people’s presence, Alex spun around quickly and scooted back into her corner.

It was the six strangers that stood before her. There was the dark-haired man that Bellatrix had shot at first as well and the light-headed one who had freed Alex from Rowle’s grip. The others were there as well, standing off to the side a bit more. Behind them, Alex could see four unconscious bodies on the ground.

“Who are you?” Her small voice ran through the quiet room.

The two men in front knelt down so they were about eye level with her. The one with brown hair opened his mouth to speak “We’re not here to hurt you, Alex. My name is Remus Lupin.” Mr. Lupin spoke with a warm voice and went on to introduce the five people behind him. There was Mr Diggle, Ms Jones, Mr Shacklebolt, Mr Moody, and then finally—

“Sirius Black.”

At the only name Alex recognized, her eyes doubled in size and suddenly a grin came to her face. “You got my letter!”

“Of course I did! That owl delivered it and we came here straight away,” Mr. Black said. The three of them got up off the ground and Alex took a second to really take a good look at them. All of the people before her looked tired, but she chalked that up to them just having to battle Death Eaters. Mr Diggle was very short, only a bit taller than Alex herself, and was now holding his purple hat in hands. Ms Jones was eyeing an unconscious Bellatrix Lestrange laying on the floor across the room. Mr Shacklebolt was dark-skinned and had a gold hooped earring in his left earlobe. Mr Moody looked a bit scary with his wooden leg and fake eyeball that seemed to travel everywhere at once. Mr Lupin was looking at her with kind brown eyes and he almost looked like he was holding back a tear or two. Mr Black, the man that Alex had only heard of from Bellatrix and Narcissa, had a huge smile on his face and he had grey eyes—but they didn’t exude darkness and coldness like Bellatrix’s had. Instead, they were filled with warmth. He, too, looked on the verge of tears.

Asking carefully—because she didn’t know if she wanted to hear the answer or if they would allow her to ask questions—Alex strangled out one word. “Why?”

The frowns on the faces were very brief, Alex almost didn’t catch them. Almost.

“We all came to rescue you. I couldn’t leave you here knowing there was something we could do to help you,” Mr Black explained.

“As soon as we got your letter, we wanted to help and came up with a plan, Miss Potter,” Mr Moody continued. Alex was shocked. No one had _ever_ called her ‘Miss Potter’ before. She didn’t deserve that title. 

“But why would you want to help me? You don’t even know me.”

Their expression turned somber before Mr Black spoke again. “Alex, we—Remus and I, we’ve known you since you were born.” 

That piece of information once again shocked the young girl, because _what?_

_“Wait, what? How?”_ Alex asked incredulously, looking back and forth between the two men.

“We were best friends with your Dad. We went to school together, where he met your Mum. We all stayed friends, and then you and Harry were born.” He paused a second, seeming like he was having a mental debate with himself. Eventually, he said, “When you were born, Alex, your parents wanted me to be your godfather.”

Alex’s jaw slackened. She didn’t know what to say. This was too much all at once. These two men had known her parents? More than that, they were _best friends_. And then, Mr Black was her… 

“You-you’re my… godfather? _And_ you both knew my Mum and Dad?”

 _And who is Harry?_ Alex wanted to ask the question, but decided against it.

“Yes. I-we all thought you were dead this entire time. It’s a lot to explain, and I promise we’ll tell you everything. That is, if you want.”

The puzzled expression on her face was enough to let Mr Black know she had no idea what he was talking about. 

“Being your godfather means that I would take care of you if anything happened to your parents. If you would like to, you could… come to live with me?”

The last sentence was asked as a question and Alex was about to fall over from everything going on all at once. Without thinking, she took the only chance she was going to get to leave this place. Besides, if he was really his godfather as he claimed, that meant he was like family. “Yes, anything to get away from here.”

Another grin spread across his face, as well as everyone else’s. Almost chuckling, he said, “Well, as I said, everything will get explained. But, for now, how about we get you home?”

 _Home_. Alex had never known what it was like to have a home, and she wasn’t sure if she ever would. For now, though, she would see what it was like living with him. She was just about to nod as a response, but stopped herself first. 

“Wait! There’s something I need to get,” she said.

“What is it?” Mr Lupin asked.

“I’ll show you. It’s down in my room, c’mon.” As she turned to lead the way, she could tell that only Mr Black and Lupin were going to follow. The others moved to go pick up the still unconscious Death Eaters.

As they winded down the halls, Alex leading the way, the smiles never left the men’s faces—until she led them down a narrow staircase into the _dungeons_. 

The _dungeons._

Sirius was going to kill his cousin. That is, if Remus didn’t beat him to it.

With them trying their best to hide their anger, Alex continued down the walkway. Each—steel—door had only a single torch blazing on the wall of the hallway across from it. After five torches, Alex turned to the sixth door. Lifting her right fist up, she tapped a pattern on the door; four quick knocks, a short pause, then one more knock. A lock could be heard unlatching itself and the door opened inwards slightly. She pushed it open all the way and walked in as Sirius and Remus stood in the doorway.

Not believing how their fury could grow even more, they were shocked to see the prison that Alex called her “room.” In one corner, there was a slightly raised cement slab with a couple blankets and a single pillow on top—presumably a bed. On the opposite wall, there was a simple table with a run-down chair pushed under it. On top, there was a single inkwell and quill, but no parchment to be seen. The two drawers were full to the brim, not able to close all the way. There was a trash basin in another corner. That’s all that was in the room.

Alex was kneeling beside her “bed,” trying to reach something in the very back near the wall. Unable to reach it, she laid down on her stomach and scooted under the bed, so her entire top-half was covered by it. After a couple seconds, a soft “Ah ha!” was heard and she slid back out with two items.

In one hand, she held a small metal box. In the other was a… baby blanket? With care, she placed the cloth on the bed gently, then opened up the box. Reaching in, she pulled out a simple silver locket—something that seemed oddly both familiar as well as foreign to Remus and Sirius.

“This is what I was talking about. When Babble, she’s a house elf here, started teaching me lessons, she brought me this. Said I had it when I first came here. Figured they’re my parents. Hoping, at least.” With a couple strides to the door, she lifted the open locket up to their faces. It did, indeed, have a picture of James and Lily smiling warmly at each other. Before Remus or Sirius could reach out to touch it, Alex closed it and latched it around her neck. It slid midway down her chest. “Same with the blanket. Babble said I came in it, so I just kept it.” She seemed to be done talking and shrugged her shoulders.

“So, this is where you’ve been living?”

“Yes, Mr Lupin, I’ve-“

“Just Remus, is fine. You don’t need to bother with formalities with me, alright?”

“Same with me. Sirius is more than fine.”

They had said it so warmly and Alex didn't know quite what to say. She had never called anyone by their first names—except for Bellatrix in her mind and Babble, if that even counts. “Erm, okay then, Mr- Remus and Sirius.” That would take some getting used to.

Continuing her thoughts from before Remus had interrupted, she said, “I spend most of my time in here. It’s kinda boring, but I pass the time by drawing on the walls.”

Remus and Sirius looked confused, as there were clearly no drawings on any of the walls.

Chuckling ever so slightly at them, Alex explained, pointing over to the inkwell and quill. “Enchanted ink, it disappears about ten minutes after it’s used. The inkwell refills automatically, too.” She was going to stop there, but they looked interested in what she was saying. “I’ve broken plenty of quills with these walls, but whenever I put the pieces down, look away then look back at them, it’s good as new. I _think_ it repairs itself, but I’ve never caught it in the act. And she hasn’t let me use parchment in a long while, but I’m not quite sure why.”

“How’d you send the letter, then? And I don’t see a bird cage in here, either,” Sirius asked.

“I broke the rules,” she said, looking down ashamed. “I stole the parchment from the library and broke into _her_ quarters to send it off with Erebus.” She almost stopped to finish but went on a little more, “I kinda did it without thinking, I just needed some help is all.”

Sirius moved over and kneeled in front of her. “We’re really glad that you asked for help, Alex.” She nodded in response, feeling a little less ashamed about breaking Bellatrix’s rules, and lifted her head up a bit more.

“Now, how about we get out of this place? I think you’ve been here long enough.” 

Alex nodded eagerly and went to grab her stuff. She tucked the blanket inside her large trouser pocket for safe keeping. Leading them out of the dungeons, she didn’t want to stay in this prison any longer. As they walked outside, Alex asked how they would get to where they were going. 

“We brought brooms, they allowed us to follow the feather here. I’m not sure if someone your age should be Side-Along Apparating yet.” Remus agreed with Sirius that Alex was too young to Side-Along Apparate and so Alex climbed onto the broom with Sirius, holding on tightly to his shoulders to keep balanced. Then, without looking back, the three rose into the clouds and disillusionment charms were cast over them. 

The trip was longer than Alex had suspected. They had to have been in the air for well over an hour. Holding tight to Sirius’ shoulders, she focused on her breathing. Behind her, she could tell that Remus was glancing over every few seconds keeping an extra close eye on her.

Finally, they began their descent from the clouds and below them Alex could see a row of townhouses. They dropped down to the street and she looked at the numbers on the houses, wondering which one was Sirius’.

Noticing something strange, she asked hesitantly, “Mr Bl- Sirius, what happened to number twelve? It just goes from eleven to thirteen, has it always been like that?”

She looked back and both Sirius and Remus had playful grins on their faces. “You’re very observant, I see. Here,” Sirius said, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a note. He handed it to her.

 _Headquarters, Number 12 Grimmauld Place_ was scribbled on one side. Headquarters to what? Alex figured she would ask later. 

When she looked up, however, something very strange was happening. It seemed as if numbers eleven and thirteen were being pushed off to the side by another townhouse, one that hadn’t been there just moments before. Number twelve.

“Woah. What is this place?”

“This is the house I grew up in. My father put every security measure known to wizard-kind on it years and years ago,” Sirius explained. Alex gave the note back to him when he reached for it and he immediately burned it, letting the ashes fly off in the breeze.

Remus whispered something to Sirius that Alex couldn't hear, then he went inside ahead of them. A minute or two later, Sirius led her inside as well.

The place was very dark. Inside, the door led into a long hallway that had a big chandelier overhead. Alex wouldn’t say it was any gloomier than the Lestrange manor had been. There were a few cobwebs up towards the ceiling that must’ve been overlooked during cleaning, but Alex was used to spiders. In another room, she could hear a couple low voices. After Sirius led her to a dining room, she could hear the voices on the stairwell before they faded altogether.

Suddenly there was a clanging and a woman with flaming red hair appeared in the doorway. Alex could tell she was trying not to stare. A couple seconds later, she began addressing Sirius. “Remus took Harry upstairs. I imagine he’ll be down in a bit. I best be on my way now, leave you be.” 

“Thank you, Molly,” said Sirius. With that, Molly turned and left.

“Who’s Harry?” asked Alex after there was a silence.

Alex couldn’t quite make out Sirius’ expression. She didn’t have much time when footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Remus emerged a moment later and took a seat at the table with them both.

“We’re sure you have lots of questions and we’re happy to answer them,” he said.

Once again, Alex repeated her question. “Who’s Harry? You’ve mentioned him twice now.” 

Sighing, Remus explained, “When you were born, your mum was carrying twins.” Alex’s eyes bulged, already knowing where this was going. “Harry is your brother.”

“I have a brother? I’m a twin?” Not waiting for an answer, she continued with twinkling eyes. “Where is he? Can I meet him?”

They grinned. “Of course you can. He’s upstairs.” They all three got up, with Remus leading the way up the stairs. He led Alex to a door on the third floor.

Alex’s heart was pounding in her chest. Everything was happening so fast. Just a few hours ago, she was a servant to Bellatrix Lestrange. She had been rescued by friends of her parents that she didn’t know existed—one of them being her godfather—and now she was going to meet her _brother_. She had been a twin this whole time and never even knew it. It did explain some things, though. 

Thoughts were racing in her mind. What would he be like? What would he look like? Would they look similar? Would he like her? Would she like him?

There was no answer to any of them before the door was pushed open and Alex’s eyes met an identical pair to her own; a striking bright green. The boy in front of her had unruly black hair, the same color as her own. He had a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. His face seemed familiar, it looked very much like the face of their father in the locket. This was different to her, who looked much like their mother. The main difference that Alex could tell was a thin scar on his forehead shaped like a lightning bolt.

The two stood staring at each other, silent, for many moments. The air was starting to get awkward when the boy, Harry, spoke. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Alex said timidly.

“I’m Harry.”

“Alex.” A long pause, then she said, “So, you’re my brother?”

“Guess so,” was his response, along with a shrug of his shoulders.

That introduction must’ve been good enough for the both of them, because Alex shrugged her shoulders as well and entered the room more. When Harry patted a spot next to him on the bed, she sat down.

Another silent moment later, Harry said, “Cool necklace.”

This made Alex beam and she reached for it, unclasping it from around her neck. “Thank you. It’s a locket, has a picture of my—well, our parents in it. Wanna see?”

“Yeah!”

She opened it up and Harry studied it. From the doorway, Sirius and Remus were watching the two with fondness shining in their eyes. They stood there silently as Alex and Harry talked. Harry told her how awesome living with Sirius was, that he even was allowed to ride a broom.

“Really? You’ve got your own broom?”

“Well, not exactly.”

“How so?”

Sirius interjected there. “It is Harry’s broom, but he has to be careful and fly only when someone’s watching over him. There’s rules he has to follow.”

“Sirius says I’ll need the practice for Hogwarts. I want to make Seeker for Gryffindor quidditch,” said Harry.

Alex had read about Hogwarts and quidditch from the library books at the Lestrange manor, so she was able to follow along mostly. “How are you so sure you’ll be in Gryffindor?”

“Mum and Dad both were. And a lot of people say that Houses run in the family. Besides, both Remus and Sirius say—what do you say? I “exude the Gryffindor spirit” or something like that?”

“Something like that,” Remus chuckled.

“Mum and Dad were both Gryffindors?” Alex asked.

“Yep, I just know the Sorting Hat will put me in Gryffindor. Do you know which House you want to be in?”

Actually, Alex didn’t know what House she hoped to be sorted into. If both her parents were in Gryffindor and Harry was so sure that he would be as well, maybe it meant that she would be too. “I suppose Gryffindor would be cool.”

“Cool. D’you know that Sirius and Remus were both Gryffindors, too? Same year as Mum and Dad and everything.”

Alex looked back over towards the doorway. “That right?”

“It is. That’s how we became friends in the first place.”

“Maybe I will be in Gryffindor, then. I haven’t read too much about the houses, but I always thought Ravenclaw was nice. They seem smart.”

“That’s what I’ve heard, they like school and such. Hufflepuff seems alright too. I wouldn’t be too keen on Slytherin, though,” Harry said.

“What’s wrong with Slytherin?”

“Er, well, there have been a lot of dark witches and wizards that were in Slytherin…”

“Oh.” Suddenly, Alex was wondering if Bellatrix had been in Slytherin. That would be a deal breaker.

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t really matter yet. We’ve still got months before we start at Hogwarts,” Harry began. “Hey! Have you seen your room yet? Well, we don’t live here so it’s only temporary, but I saw Kreacher setting it up earlier.”

“My room? I get my own room?” Alex asked dumbfounded. The dungeon could hardly classify as a room, and that was all Alex had ever known. She looked at Sirius.

“Of course you do. I ordered Kreacher to get one together for tonight. We’ll go home tomorrow.”

“If you don’t live here, then where do you live?”

Sirius said, “I can’t tell you that-“

“Why?”

“Only Remus can. It’s under the Fidelius charm, just like this place is, and he’s the Secret Keeper. That means only he can tell you where it is.”

She turned to look at Remus. “Are you the Secret Keeper of this place, too?”

“No, no. That would be Dumbledore. He’s the one that wrote on that note Sirius gave you before you came in.”

“Dumbledore? Isn’t he the headmaster at Hogwarts?”

“Yes, he is. He’s also the Secret Keeper of Grimmauld Place.”

“I see. So, where _does_ Sirius live?”

“108 Almond Road, Stagmouth, England.”

“Okay, thank you Remus.”

“Anytime, Alex.”

They were talking as they walked slowly down the hallway. They stopped at a door and Alex opened it. Inside was a simple room with a bed, nightstand, dresser, desk and desk chair. In the corner there was a very comfy looking chair that seemed like it would be great to read a book in. The corners of the room were dark and there wasn’t much lighting in general, but she didn’t see any cobwebs. It was perfect.

She turned around to face Sirius, Remus, and Harry, smiling. “Thank you.” She stepped forward but then stopped. Sirius could practically see the debate in her mind.

He crouched down. “What’s wrong?” he said gently.

“It’s nothing. It’s just that— Can I, erm… Can I hug you?”

His eyes crinkled with his smile and he held his arms out. “Of course you can. A hug is something you’ll never need to ask for.”

She walked forward and carefully wrapped her arms around him in an awkward hug that he gladly returned. She pulled away after only a second, though. “Okay.”

As she turned back around, her eyes scanned the room once more. Not believing she missed the large cage on the nightstand, she suddenly remembered the owl that helped her so much. “Erebus! C’mon, boy!” When there was no response from anywhere that they could hear, she went back to the hallway and called down the staircase. “Erebus!”

She had gotten to the landing below, the others following behind her looking for a small wad of black feathers. Calling once more, she listened and heard a _hoot_ along with the flapping of wings. Taking the last step onto the ground floor, the tawny owl nearly rammed into her chest.

“There you are!” The owl moved to her shoulder and nuzzled against her head before they both remembered the other people right behind her. “I guess you should be formally introduced, even though he kind of already delivered the letter. Anyways, Erebus, this is Remus, my parents’ friend, Sirius, my godfather, and Harry, my brother,” she said, pointing at each of them. “Guys, this is Erebus. He really is a sweet owl.”

“Wicked!” Harry said, stepping forward. “Where’d you get him?” Remus whispered something in Sirius’s ear and then left the room in the direction of the kitchen.

“I’m not sure. I think Bellatrix had him before she… before I came to her house.” The little hiccup did not go unnoticed by Sirius, but he decided that it might be best not to pressure her into saying anything about the last nine years. It couldn’t have been very good. 

Alex continued, “He liked me when I was younger. Been friends for as long as I can remember.” Harry nodded and then asked if he could pet him. Alex passed him over to Harry as he stroked his head.

Alex took a good look around her, her eyes traveling down the hallway to the front entrance. They landed on the broom that her and Sirius had used and, after a few moments of her looking at it, she turned back to her godfather and brother. “Hey, Harry, how’d you come to live with Sirius? Have you lived with him since Mum and Dad died?”

Sirius wasn’t entirely surprised that she was asking this question. After all, it was clear that Harry had been with him for quite some time. Scrunching his nose, Harry said, “I used to live with Aunt Petunia—she’s Mum’s sister—and Uncle Vernon. But they weren’t very nice. Since Sirius got out of Azkaban a few years ago, he’s been trying to get custody of me, but no one will let him. They all say that Azkaban messed with his head, but he’s great!”

“Thanks, pup,” Sirius said.

“If Sirius doesn’t have custody of you, then how are you here? I thought there was a law or something for that.”

“He’s got some custody of me, but I still have to go back to the Dursleys once a month. The Ministry says they need to “check in,” but if you ask me, they just don’t like Sirius.”

“Oh.” She turned to Sirius. “Does this mean you won’t be able to have custody of me? Will I have to go away?”

Sirius sighed. “I really hope not, but your situation is a lot different than Harry’s. Everyone thinks that you died nine years ago. As of right now, you’ve got no guardian and the Ministry will want to appoint one as soon as they can. I doubt they would put you with a muggle family when you’ve spent your whole life with a witch.”

“They’re muggles?”

“Yes, Lily was muggle-born. Petunia wasn’t magical, though.”

“They’re awful though. They _hate_ magic and anything to do with it.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Harry sighed. “But it’s only a day a month. I can live with that for now.”

With that exchange over, Sirius was a bit glad that Alex didn’t question his going to Azkaban. He didn’t know if his emotions could handle talking about that night or that rat.

Alex studied Sirius. As if reading his mind, she said, “I already knew you went to Azkaban. That’s actually when I first heard your name a few years ago. I overheard Bellatrix and Mrs Malfoy talking about you.”

That got Sirius’s attention. “Mrs Malfoy? _Narcissa_ knew about you this whole time?” It looked like Sirius had two cousins to kill now.

Alex nodded her head slowly. “Uh huh. She’s not too bad, though. She mostly left me alone.” Maybe Narcissa would be able to live, then. 

Sirius rubbed his temples with his fingers. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you again.”

Sirius looked angry and now Alex was worried she was in trouble. “She’s really not that bad. I don’t even remember the last time she talked to me.”

Sirius could see the worry in his goddaughter’s eyes and he softened his facial features. Crouching down so he was eye level with her, he said, “Look, Alex, you are not in trouble. I’m just upset that I have two cousins that knew where you were and that they weren’t nice to you. It’s not your fault.” She nodded in response.

Just then, Remus came into the room. “Dinner’s ready.”

They all followed him down into the kitchen and sat down. It was strange for Alex to eat _with_ other people. She had only ever eaten alone in her dungeon. While eating her chicken, she was silent, keeping eye contact with the plate. Nobody seemed to mind the silence, which she was grateful for. 

She hadn’t noticed how hungry she was. Bellatrix hadn’t let her have anything to eat that day, so she hadn’t eaten since her small meal the night before. But, even with this hunger, she ate slowly, making sure to chew and swallow each bite before reaching for another. When she put her fork down, she still had a third of her chicken left. It was best if she didn’t eat too much.

Without warning, Erebus flew from his perch on a chair across the table to Alex, who held out an arm for him. “Erebus, no owls at the dinner table,” she said before trying to shake him off without success. “Erebus.”

As he took off, he swooped down to her plate and grabbed the remaining chicken. “Hey! That’s a bad owl, Erebus.” He just hooted as if to laugh.

“Here, I’ll go get you some more,” Sirius said, reaching for her plate.

“No, that’s okay, Sirius. I’m not hungry anyways.” 

He eyes her with questioning eyes. “Are you sure?” She nodded. “You can always have more to eat, Alex. If you want.”

“Thank you, but I’m alright for now.” He nodded hesitantly. 

When they were all finished, they moved into the drawing room. Harry was sitting with Remus on one couch, Sirius was on another couch, and Alex took one of the cushioned chairs. 

They were in the middle of another quidditch discussion when there was a crash from the hallway that only turned out to be Kreacher. He didn’t seem to like Alex much, muttering something about blood before storming off grumpily. They returned and picked up the conversation, but Alex didn’t participate much. It developed into talk of Hogwarts. The more she learned about the school, the more she thought that being in Gryffindor sounded good. She hoped that’s where the Sorting Hat would put her.

Eventually, her eyelids started to droop, even though it was only eight, and she had to fight to stay awake. It didn’t last long, though, because Remus noticed how tired she was.

“I think a nice rest could do us all some good,” he said. To that, Harry replied that he wasn’t tired. Besides, he still had an hour until his bedtime. “You can stay up until then, Harry.” That got a smile out of the boy.

Remus led Alex up the stairs into her temporary room. They didn’t have any clothes for her, so she wore a set of Harry’s pajamas that had gone unused. They were a little big on her, but it would suffice until they could go shopping.

She climbed in the bed, her eyes starting to close before she even pulled the blanket over her. Remus tucked it up to her shoulders for her then stepped back into the doorway and looked back at her. She looked so peaceful asleep and Remus still could barely believe that today had happened. Early this morning, they had thought she’d been dead, but now she was safely tucked in bed at Grimmauld Place. 

He must’ve lost track of how long he had stood there in his thoughts because Sirius stepped into the doorway with him. 

“I can hardly believe that today actually happened,” Sirius whispered. 

“Me too.”

“She’s beautiful.”

Remus hummed. “She takes after Lily quite a lot.”

“She does.”

They stood there for a few more minutes before going up to their own rooms. That night, they kept their ears open on high alert in case either of the kids woke up with a nightmare. Harry had been getting them frequently since he started living with Sirius, and they both had a feeling that Alex’s nights wouldn’t be so peaceful with whatever she had gone through. Sirius laid awake until two in the morning, his thoughts racing, until he drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about this chapter, but I did what I needed to do here. Let me know what you think x


	6. Grimmauld Place, 21 April 1991

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone! Enjoy :)  
> Quick note: I had mentioned in a previous chapter that it was February 1991, but I changed that this chapter to April 1991. It fit a bit better with my plan. Just mentioning in case anyone who had read that previously was confused.  
> Also, I changed some chapter titles. From now on, they’re going to be the place/date of when the chapter begins

Alex bolted upright in the soft bed. She had had that dream again. The one with the bright green light and a woman’s scream and then a baby’s cries. She’s had this dream more times than she could count, but she was good at being silent in the night. 

According to the clock on the wall, it was almost 5 AM. It was too early for anyone else to be up, but there was no chance that she would be able to go back to sleep after the nightmare. As quiet as she could, she slipped out of bed and crept down the stairs. It didn’t help her attempt at stealth when almost every step let out a  _ creak. _ But once she reached the bottom, she tiptoed to the kitchen and found a glass in one of the cupboards. Filling it with tap water from the sink, she sat down and began sipping it slowly.

She was in somewhat of a stupor, caught between the dream world and reality. Those nightmares always happened without warning, and they always left her with less sleep than what she usually got.

She put the glass down and rested her head in her hands.  _ Why did it have to be tonight? It was the first night with Sirius and Harry and maybe Remus because she wasn’t sure if he lived with them or not. She didn’t need their pity so early on.  _ She sat there, lost in her thoughts, for over an hour. At last, footsteps came down the stairs and marched toward the kitchen.

At the sound of the steps, Alex jumped up, put the glass in the sink, and tried to go around the back way to the stairs. She didn't think she was allowed up this early. She was supposed to be asleep still.

But it was too late. “Alex? Is that you?” Remus’s still sleep-meddled voice sounded.

She stopped and turned to face him. Surprisingly, his expression did not seem angry in the slightest. There might’ve even been some concern in there, but mostly exhaustion. “Good morning, Remus.”

“Petal, what are you doing up so early?” 

Alex scrunched her nose at whatever that nickname was supposed to be. “Petal?”

“Oh, sorry. When you were a baby we all nicknamed you Petal because your mother’s name is Lily like the flower—nevermind, it made sense when you were a few months old but it’s not the best nickname in the world, is it?”

“Well, it’s not  _ that  _ bad…” Alex tried to start but then agreed with Remus. “You know, maybe you’re right. I’m not a fan of it.” They both chuckled a bit.

“That’s alright. We’ll have to find a nickname or something, unless you just like Alex.”

“A nickname sounds cool, I guess.” And that was that, Alex hoped. She didn’t want to explain the nightmare and why she was downstairs so early. They both sat down at the table.

“Did you have a hard time sleeping?” he asked her after a moment of silence.

She didn’t want to lie, but she  _ really  _ didn’t want to talk about nightmares. “I’m just an early riser, I like to watch the sunrise.” There, that wasn’t  _ exactly  _ a lie, was it? It was true, after all.

It must’ve not been convincing, judging from the look on Remus’s face, but Remus didn’t want to press the issue. He nodded his head hesitantly. “So am I. It should be coming up in a few minutes.” A long pause, then, “How long have you been up?”

She just shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure.”

He nodded his head again, becoming aware that she was not in the mood to talk. “I’ll be in the library if you want to talk, alright? Sirius and Harry should be down in a few hours.”

“Okay, than—wait, there’s a library here?” Alex asked with a twinkle in her eyes. 

Remus smiled at the enthusiasm. “Yes, I’ll show you.” 

With that, he led the way through the house and opened a door. Alex walked in and almost gasped in surprise. There were a lot of books in there. Maybe even more than the library Bellatrix had. 

“Woah.”

Remus smiled again and went to sit down at a desk on the left wall that had a pile of papers on it. Alex walked up to the shelves and saw many titles she had never seen before. She passed her hand along  _ Toadstool Tales, Sonnets of a Sorcerer, The Flying Squad,  _ and  _ Catch 22 _ before pulling out a book with the title  _ Enchanted Encounters  _ by Fifi LaFolle. Settling down into a cushioned chair, she flipped the book open and began reading.

Hours later—Alex isn’t sure quite how many, she was too engrossed in the story of Sheena Stintin trying to slay a dragon in order to protect her brother—Sirius walked into the library to find an unexpected sight: his goddaughter with her nose in a book and his best friend hunched over a desk scribbling away on some parchment.

“Good morning,” he said. No response. He said it again a little louder and caught Remus’s attention who just waved at him in acknowledgement. A couple seconds later, Remus put down his quill and turned in his seat.

Motioning towards Alex, who was oblivious that Sirius was even in the room, he said, “She loves to read. She’s had her nose in that book since six thirty this morning.”

Sirius nodded. “Six thirty?” A nod was his answer and then Remus went back to his papers. Sirius walked over to the young girl and his close proximity caused her to look at him.

“Hi, Sirius.”

“Good morning. Whatcha got there?”

She put her book down. “It’s called Enchanted Encounters and this girl—Sheena, she just defeated a dragon in order to save her brother from a mean witch. There’s more stories, too, like the one where Sheena and Scout have to get away from a wizard who’s trying to cook them. That’s my favorite so far.”

“Sounds exciting. Have you eaten breakfast already?”

“Breakfast? No, I’m not hungry.” He frowned at her answer. 

“You sure? We can make some pancakes. I’m not the best cook but we could figure something out.”

“Well, pancakes  _ do  _ sound good,” Alex conceded with a smile and then got up out of her chair. They went down to the kitchen. 

Harry joined the two of them halfway through the batter-making process and then they all sat down to enjoy their breakfast. Remus came in a few minutes afterwards.

“So, Remus,” Alex began, hoping that her question wasn’t too personal. “Do you live here? It’s just that you never mentioned and then Sirius said this was his childhood home so I was just wondering.”

“Ah, no, I don’t live here. I don’t spend much time in one place, though. Normally, I’m off on my studies for my book that I’m writing. But when I’m not, I usually stay with Sirius.”

“So you live with Sirius? Alright.”

“I guess you could say that.” Remus’s cheeks heated slightly and Alex could see a twinge of pink but then his expression went back to normal. A playful look found its way into Alex’s eyes, but she decided to let it be.

“What’s your book about?” And so Remus delved into his book. Alex paid attention with mild interest and decided that it sounded fascinating. The thought of reading about defense spells and battles peaked her interest.

Later in the day, they—Alex, Harry, Sirius, and Remus—traveled through the Floo and came out in a nice house in Stagmouth, England.

“There’s a big yard,” Harry said. “It’s perfect for flying.” Sure enough, when Alex looked through the window, there was a large field. “And the closest neighbor is like two kilometers that way,” he pointed in one direction. “This town is really spread out.”

They showed her around. There was a kitchen near the front of the house with a dining room and living room next to it. There was also one bedroom, a bathroom, and a study room on the bottom floor. The second floor consisted of three bedrooms and a bathroom, along with a master bed and bath.

Alex’s room was on the second floor, next to Harry’s. It was very similar to the one from Grimmauld Place, except not nearly as dark and gloomy. There was also an empty bookcase along one wall, which the other room had lacked. “We’ll need to get you some books,” Sirius had said. That put a smile on Alex’s face. “As well as some decorations. These walls are much too boring.” Her smile grew wider.

That night, Sirius had promised to take both Alex and Harry to Diagon Alley the next day; Alex needed new clothes, some books, and he wanted to get her in to see a healer, just to make sure that she was alright physically. Sirius figured Harry would need new robes for Hogwarts as well and he could get a few books at Flourish and Blotts if he wanted to, then they could go to Fortescue’s afterwards. Unfortunately, Remus had an appointment with his editor that day so he wouldn’t be able to make it.

* * *

Alex took the stairs one at a time, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was nearly eight thirty. She hadn’t slept that long in years. Taking the last step and turning towards the living room, she spotted Sirius on the couch reading a book. She didn’t see Harry or Remus anywhere.

Quietly, she went and sat down on the loveseat. “Good morning, Sirius.” 

He put down his book and greeted her the same. He went to make breakfast of scrambled eggs for them both. When Alex had tried to say that she should be the one cooking, he replied with, “You don’t need to cook for anyone here, alright? I don’t expect you to make meals everyday.”

She was a little confused at that. After all, she had made breakfast every morning for Bellatrix for multiple years now, but had never really had breakfast of her own. That’s why she kept refusing breakfast from Sirius. She stood to the side in the kitchen, watching Sirius cook in case he needed any help.

When Sirius turned to grab a couple plates, he noticed her standing there and asked what was bothering her.

“I always make breakfast. It’s one of my jobs,” she replied simply.

Sirius reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Alex, I promise you that you don’t need to make breakfast for anyone else. The way that you were treated was not right and you were doing far too much work than someone should be doing. Please don’t feel like you need to do something just because you had to over there, okay?”

She nodded. “So… I don’t have to make breakfast all the time? Are you sure?”

“I’m positive. I want you to feel comfortable here. If you don’t want to do something, please tell me. I’ll always be here to talk and listen.”

Alex felt like he was talking about more than just breakfast, but she just nodded once more. Sirius moved to take the eggs off the stove before they burned and they sat down to have breakfast. Afterward, they moved back to the living room

“So, Harry’s at primary school and Remus is off with his publisher. What would you like to do today? I was thinking that we could take a look in the shed out back, there’s loads of stuff to check out,” Sirius said.

Alex was stumped; she didn’t know what to do. So, she asked, “Harry’s at primary school? What do you mean?”

“There’s a muggle school a few minutes from here that Harry goes to, just until he goes to Hogwarts. I was thinking of enrolling you in there, but it would only be for about a month, so I don’t think it’s worth it.”

Alex nodded, then thought back to the promise that Sirius had made to them last night. “If Harry’s at muggle primary school, then he can’t go to Diagon Alley. I thought he was coming with us.”

Sirius’s lips curved into a smile. “His school gets out at half two. We can go afterwards. Remus should be back here in a couple hours, but then he has that appointment with his editor at three, like I mentioned. So, we have a few hours to kill before Remus gets back.”

Alex knew there was an unasked question about what she wanted to do hidden in there, so she had to think fast. Thinking of things she likes to do, coupled with what she knew about this house, an idea popped into her mind. “Harry mentioned that you had a few brooms in the shed…”

Sirius popped up and offered, “C’mon, you want to go flying? I can teach you if you want.”

_ Oh, this will be fun,  _ Alex thought smugly, but followed innocently behind him as they moved to the shed. He grabbed two brooms from a back corner and handed one to her.

He moved them both towards the center of the field and Alex walked behind him. When he stopped, Alex could hear him going on about the wind or something, but she wasn’t really paying attention. 

Before he could finish his thought and turn back around, she had mounted her broom and zoomed over his head. 

Looking back, she wished she had a camera to capture Sirius’s shocked expression. She noticed him mounting his broom and then she turned forward, feeling the wind rush past her face.

Lost in the marvelous feeling of flying through the air on nothing but an enchanted stick, she blocked out all other thoughts. This, along with reading, had been her only escapes for the past years. Picking up some more speed, she made a u-turn and was making her way towards the house. She continued her zig-zag path all across the yard with Sirius on her tail.

At one point, they had flown quite high in the air, and Alex momentarily hoped that surrounding muggles couldn’t see them but then pushed those thoughts away. Turning into a nosedive and plummeting towards the ground, she had a smile plastered on her face. 

She felt so light on a broom, like nothing could touch her. Her hair was flailing everywhere in the wind. Even the slightly-too-big robes were dragging behind her, flopping here and there. But the best feeling was that of the air rushing past her face. It felt so refreshing, making Alex seem as if she had become the wind somehow.

Aware of the plummeting the whole time, she pulled up at the exact right moment, just a few meters from the ground. Coming out of her trance, she leveled out and slowed down to a nice pace. Looking behind her, she could still see Sirius, but this time his expression screamed  _ impressed _ . Knowing that that expression was aimed at her made her feel warm.

Suddenly, the broom began to shake beneath her. She tried to steady it, but it wouldn’t listen. She was losing control. With one fling, she went flying to the ground, the broom going towards a grove of bushes.

She landed hard, but nothing hurt. A smile stretched across her face. It felt good to be on a broom again.

Meanwhile, all Sirius had seen was Alex losing control of her broom and being flung in the air. Suddenly filled with worry for her, he flew to her as fast as he could. “Alex! Are you okay?” His voice was laced with concern.

She turned to face her godfather and the beam had told him all he needed to know: she was just fine. In fact, she might’ve been even better than okay. “That was amazing!” she exclaimed and jumped up to her feet.

“Alex, that was brilliant! How did you know how to do all that?”

Her grin becoming even wider from the compliment, she explained, “Babble—the house elf! I told you that she gave me lessons, right? Wednesdays were flying lessons, she would spend two hours with me out in the garden every week! Flying is one of my favorite things to do.”

“A house elf gave you flying lessons?”

“Sort of, it’s a little hard to explain. She taught me how to mount it—that took me a lot of time to learn,” she said with a laugh, “but then I was on my own. If I thought mounting was hard at the time, I should’ve anticipated trying to keep balanced! That broom must’ve not liked me, it was always trying to throw me off. But that sure did help with my balance.” Pausing to take a breath, she continued on, however not quite as enthusiastically. “I tried escaping a few times, Sirius. But the broom was always enchanted so that it couldn’t leave the grounds. And then Bellatrix—“ she stopped suddenly, realizing she had said more than she wanted to say. Quickly, she muttered, “Nevermind,” and ran off to the bushes to find that broom.

As she was rustling through the leaves, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she was met with warm grey eyes. “It’s okay,” he began. “You can talk to me about anything. And you don’t have to tell me about Bellatrix, but it might be nice to let some of it out at some point. I’m here for you whenever you need me.” She was glad that he seemed to understand her to some degree, but she was nowhere near ready to talk about her past. Alex just nodded and went back to searching.

They were still flying around when Remus came back over an hour later. When she noticed him come out the back door, she flew over and hopped off the broom. “Hey Remus! Sirius said I’m a really good flyer! I think I’ll try out for quidditch when I go to Hogwarts.”

“That’s amazing, Alex!” Remus said as Sirius climbed off his broom.

“She is very good,” he said. “Caught me off guard when we started. I think she could give Harry a run for his money, she’s already catching up with me.”

“What are you talking about, Sirius? If I remember correctly, I was well ahead of you earlier in that race,” she said with a playful smirk.

“Yeah, well, you got a head start. That doesn’t count.”

“Mmhmm, sure. What about the one when you got a head start and I almost beat you?” Remus’s eyebrows raised at that.

“I don’t remember that happening,” Sirius said with a smile.

“Right, I was about to challenge you to it. Up for another race?”

“Oh, you’re on.” And so they mounted back on their brooms and zoomed back off.

* * *

“Alex, look at this!” Harry exclaimed, grabbing her attention.

She walked over, with Sirius following, and moved to the display case Harry had been eyeing. 

It was a broomstick. She looked at the sign above the shop door and read  _ Quality Quidditch Supplies.  _

“It’s a Cleansweep Seven! Those just came out a couple months ago, supposed to be the fastest on the market right now,” Harry explained.

Alex looked from the one Harry was pointing at to the one next to it. “What’s so different about that one?”

“That one’s a Comet 260, see the writing on the end. It’s a fine broom, too. That’s the model I have right now. Nimbus is supposed to be releasing something soon, too. The flyers have been saying it’s going to be even faster than the Cleansweep.”

In all honesty, the brooms fascinated Alex. She didn’t even know which kind of broom she had been using for years, but it wasn’t nearly as fast as the ones Sirius kept in the shed. She secretly wished she had a broom of her own. She would not ask for one, it would be too much of a bother. Besides, they looked very expensive and she didn’t want to use Sirius’s money. 

Behind them, Sirius was very much aware of his godchildren’s excitement. He had been planning on waiting until Harry’s birthday to get him the new Nimbus broom, but now Alex needed one of her own. The Cleansweep Fours in the shed were years old and slow compared to the newer models. He decided then and there that Alex was getting a broom, he wouldn’t let that talent go to waste.

Addressing Alex, he said, “You know, you could use a broom of your own.”

Her eyes widened but then she shook her head. “That’s okay. They’re too expensive.”

“It’s no trouble. I have plenty of money. Besides, you are too good to just end your flying career this young.”

She still hesitated and Sirius wondered if anyone had ever bought anything for her after that night. Figuring the answer was no, he decided on a compromise. “How about we come back here later, after our other shopping, and then you can make your mind up then, hm?”

She nodded at that and they moved on. As they moved through the Diagon Alley, Alex took notice of each of the shops. They each looked fascinating, even the junk shop they had passed a while ago. When they first came in through the Leaky Cauldron, something that Alex considered to be very strange happened.

As soon as they entered, the room almost completely silenced. Most people were staring at Harry at first, but then their eyes moved swiftly to Alex and there was a moment of confusion before chatting picked up in the crowd. Sirius had pulled them both close and walked them swiftly through the pub.

The first store they entered was Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. Both Alex and Harry stood there while a couple witches pinned up robes for them. As soon as they were done there, they grabbed some food for Erebus at Eeylops Owl Emporium. Next, they had left with the intention of going to Flourish and Blotts, but then stopped by Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Now, as they entered the book shop, Alex was in awe. She moved to the nearest bookshelf and began fingering through the spines. Harry and Sirius had gone over to another part of the store to search.

Alex had gone through two bookcases and only had grabbed three books. Of course, she had  _ wanted  _ more than only three, but that would’ve been more money and trouble. She passed Harry a couple rows over, who had at least half a dozen books piled beside him on the floor. She didn’t want to seem ungrateful, so she grabbed one more book after a few minutes of looking before running into Sirius.

She held the books close to her chest and said, “Found some that I like.”

“Great! You sure you don’t want more?” Sirius said before adding them to his own pile of books to buy. 

“Erm, I wasn’t sure…”

“Grab as many as you want.”

“Okay, thank you.” With that, Alex turned around and went to the row Harry was in.

“Hey, Alex. Found any yet?”

“Yes, I gave some to Sirius already but he said I could get more, so here I am.” Shrugging her shoulders then pointing to the book in his hand, she asked, “What have you got there?”

“ _ Curses and Counter-curses _ by Vindictus Viridian.”

She turned so she could read the whole title. Matching Harry’s smile when she did, she laughed a bit and said, “ _ Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More _ . Harry! Who do you hate enough to want this for?” The laughter gave her amusement away. 

“Nobody! I thought it would be cool. I might have to sneak it past Sirius, though.”

“Sneak what past me?” The children turned around to find Sirius standing a few feet away from them and Harry tried to turn the title so he couldn’t read it.

“Nothing,” Harry said, still smiling, but he held the book out anyway.

Sirius smiled along with them and even chuckled a bit when he read the title. “Seems a bit too much mischief, even for you. I don’t think Moony would approve.”

“Nah, it’s alright. Just joking anyways.” Harry was handed the book and put it back on the shelf. After ten more minutes, Alex had picked out eight more books and Harry had snatched four more; all a variety of genres. Sirius paid for all of them and shrunk the bag so that it could fit in his pocket.

Leaving the shop, Sirius led them to a shop down the street further that they had never had a need to go in before: the Healer. Inside the shop, it smelled very clean and there was obviously some kind of cleaning spell in constant use. When it was Alex’s turn, Harry stayed in the front room. After the nice Madame Byrne ran a health scan over Alex, she led Sirius out of the room and they were gone for almost ten minutes.

When Sirius came back in, he had a frown on his face but tried to smile for Alex’s sake. Immediately, she asked, “What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with me?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with you. Madame Byrne just wants you to take a couple of potions for two weeks and then come back to see her, alright? She also said-“

Madame Byrne walked back into the room at that time with some phials and set them in a bag. Taking two of them out, she poured a small amount into small cups and handed them out towards Alex. “Miss Potter, can you drink these for me, please?”

Alex nodded and swallowed them, scrunching her nose at the foul taste. There must’ve been something wrong if she was taking potions before she even left the shop.

“Thank you,” Madame Byrne said as she took the empty cups back. “I’m going to say that you are healthy, except for a couple things. Miss Potter, I’m afraid that you are lacking the necessary vitamins your body needs. This blue potion and yellow potion right here,” she held up a phial of them, “will help you receive those vitamins. You are also rather small for your age, which is partly due to the lack of vitamins. This red potion will help with that. Now, I want you taking two doses every day of all three of them for two weeks. Once with breakfast and once with supper, understand?” Everything was said rather gently, which contradicted the words spoken.

“Yes ma’am,” Alex said with a nod. Three potions, twice a day for two weeks didn’t sound that bad.

“Good. Now take care, drink your potions, and I will see you in two weeks. It was lovely to meet you. You as well, Mr. Black.”

“Thank you,” Sirius said and Madame Byrne left the room with a nod. “C’mon, I think some ice cream is in order. Fortescue’s is next.” With that, they left the room, Harry rejoined them in the front room, and they made their way over to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour.

Making their way back over to the quidditch shop—they had quite enjoyed their ice cream—Alex was excited. Sirius had seemed determined to get her a broom and she wasn’t going to object to that again. She had already picked one out in her head, but Harry insisted on looking at all the options.

“The Cleansweep is the fastest… The Bluebottle isn’t the best option, it’s made more for family safety…” and so on and so on. Sirius was also trying to help out, but Alex had already made up her mind.

She exited the store holding a Comet 260 and ran her hand along the smooth wood.

“I can’t believe you didn’t get the Cleansweep Seven, it’s the best model there is,” Harry was saying playfully.

“Nah, Harry. You don’t get it. When I race you, I want to win fair and square.” She stuck her tongue out at her brother, who now had a surprised expression on his face.

“Oh so confident, are you?” Suddenly, Alex let out an excited shriek and took off with Harry chasing behind her. They swerved around stalls, careful not to knock anything over, then ran back around towards Sirius.

He was looking down at his godchildren, grinning, beyond happy to see that they were getting along so well. 

When they got back to the house by Floo, Remus was still not back from his meeting. Harry raced to grab his broom while Alex went out back to get a feel for her new one.

She had just zoomed off when Harry came bounding down the stairs and out the door. “Woah, she’s good,” Harry said surprised.

“She is. She almost beat me in a race today,” Sirius said.

That  _ really  _ shocked Harry. “ _ You?  _ It might be tougher than I thought. Wish me luck, Sirius. You’re rooting for me, right?” But before Sirius could retort with an  _ I’m not choosing sides, I’m rooting for you both! _ , Harry had zoomed off to catch up with Alex.

In the air, they made simple rules: start at the line of trees away from the house, fly around the building, come back to the trees, repeat twice for a total of three loops.

“3…” Harry started.

“2…”

“1…”

“Go!” Alex finished as they zoomed off.

No more than two minutes later, they crossed the line of trees, Harry ahead by half a broom’s length.

“Merlin, Harry. I knew you said you were good but that was incredible! We’ll have to rematch sometime,” Alex said, slightly out of breath.

“Same to you, sis. Wanna go now?” They both turned and started heading back towards Sirius, though.

“Naw, I have to figure this broom out completely first. I’m not quite used to it yet.” It’ll take more than a few laps around the house before Alex would be able to control it completely. Other than the incredible speed of it, there were other minor differences between the last brooms she had used. 

Hopping off, a curious Sirius came up to them and asked, “Which of you won? I couldn’t tell from back here.”

“Harry did,” Alex said, “but it was awful close.”

“Yeah. Not even a full broom length between us.”

“Wow, you two are going to make the quidditch team for sure. They’d be daft not to let you in.” They thanked Sirius for the compliments and then went inside. Harry and Alex ran upstairs to put their brooms away, Alex leaning hers carefully against the wall and Harry throwing his on his bed.

Later that night, when Remus returned from his meetings and dinner had been eaten, they all four rested on the couches. Excitedly, the twins had filled Remus in on everything and wanted to show him a race, but it had been dark by that time. That was one of the rules: no flying after dark. So Alex settled for showing him her new broom. Now, they were taking in today’s events. 

Sirius and Remus were each on a couch, but Alex and Harry had been sitting together looking through a quidditch book.

Alex had a feeling that the potions were making her sleepy; she was more tired than usual after her race with Harry earlier and now she was dozing off at only half seven. Maybe it was just the adrenaline finally wearing off from everything that happened today, it was definitely enough to make her tired.

Either way, she was tired and wanted to sleep. Excusing herself and saying goodnight, she made her way to her room and put on some of the new clothes she had gotten that day. Just before going to lay in bed, Sirius knocked on her door. She let him tuck her in, drawing the blanket to her shoulders.

“Sirius, thank you for today. I had a really good time.”

“You’re welcome and I’m glad you had fun, Alex. Now, you look tired. Go to sleep,” he said gently, then kissed her on the forehead. 

After he left, Alex allowed herself to drift off. That night, she dreamt of flying books and broomsticks. An odd dream, if you asked her, but a peaceful one. She really had had a great time, it was one of the best days she had ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve got midterms next week, so I might not be updating for a little while. Please feel free to leave any concrit!


	7. Stagmouth, 9 May 1991

The following weeks went by fast. Alex took her potions when she was supposed to and they made her very tired the first week. She slept on the couch most days. Sometimes she would sit and talk with someone before dozing off. The second week was much better, her body was becoming stronger and more used to the extra vitamins. By the end of that second week, she was feeling better than normal and Madame Byrne had said she made great improvement. She really had needed those vitamins after all.

It was afternoon and Sirius had just left to go get Harry from school. They would be back soon. But, for now, Alex was sitting at the table with Remus. Alex had yet to open up to anyone regarding what the last nine years had been like—they felt so far away now. It was as if it was a previous life that she had no interest in reliving. She had pushed all her memories as far back as she could, so now that’s all they were to her—memories. 

Remus had taught her to play wizard’s chess a few days ago and they sat at the table with the board between them. Deep in thought and trying to come up with a strategy because she was aware that she was losing horribly, Alex said, “Bishop to G4,” and it promptly attacked Remus’s pawn in that position. Without warning, Remus took the bishop with a knight that Alex had overlooked and declared checkmate. 

She deflated slightly in the chair before perking up again. “I don’t know how you do it. That’s, what, four in a row? Please, tell me your secrets. The only person I can beat is Harry, and that’s only been once!”

“Lots of practice, that’s the only secret I can offer,” Remus said as the board set back up, the knocked out pieces regaining consciousness and moving to their spots. Starting again, Alex was sure that she would win one of these games one day.

Just as Alex took one of Remus’s rooks, the front door opened and Sirius and Harry walked in. Harry threw his bag down, seemingly upset.

“What’s wrong, Harry?” Remus asked.

“The teacher. He said I failed my test again! But I checked with one of the kids that got all the questions right, and I only missed two questions! I should’ve passed it. Then, he assigned a final project due next week that’s a huge part of my grade. When I told him I couldn’t do it, he got mad at me and almost gave me detention without even letting me explain!”

“Why can’t you do the project?” Remus wanted to get the full story before making decisions.

“The project, he said that it’s supposed to be like a graduating type of thing. You know, because all the muggles are going into secondary school next year, so it’s like graduating primary. Well, he said the prompt was to ask our parents what going into secondary school was like, and I can’t do that!” It was suddenly evident that this was about more than not wanting to do an assignment.

“Oh, Harry-“ Sirius began, but Harry continued.

“I went to talk to him right after school, and I was trying to tell him that I live with my godfather, so I would only be able to have one point of view. But as soon as I said something, he started yelling at me! Didn’t even give me time to say anything before threatening a detention, so I left.” As soon as Harry was done, he turned on his heels and ran up the stairs. Remus and Sirius exchanged glances before Sirius went up himself.

Alex, who had listened to everything Harry said, was sitting quietly, looking towards Remus. “Is Harry okay?”

“He will be, Alex, he will be. It’s just been hard for him lately.”

_ It’s my fault Harry’s upset,  _ Alex thought to herself.  _ I’m a reminder of Mum and Dad and all I’ve done for him since I’ve come here is bring up questions about them that upset Harry. I’m such a bother. _

Suddenly, it occurred to Alex that she didn’t even know all the circumstances surrounding her parents’ deaths. 

There was a long pause before Alex had thought of how to put her question into words. It had been something she wanted to ask for awhile, but figured it would bring up too much sadness for Remus or Sirius if she asked. She knew only small details, whatever Bellatrix had used to taunt her, and wanted to know the full story. It was as good a time as ever to ask because it seemed that the subject had already been breached.

“Remus, how exactly did my parents die?” It was little more than a whisper.

Remus looked at her with sad eyes. Remembering everything brought a somber smile to his face, but he opened his mouth to speak. He wasn’t going to hide anything from her, she had the right to know just as much as Harry and himself did. And so he told her as much as he could about that night. How Peter had betrayed them all, how he was secretly giving information to Voldemort(Alex was surprised he called him by name), how when Sirius went to the Potter cottage that night, he found them, along with a crying baby Harry. Sirius hadn’t seen any trace of Alex when he was there, except for a scorch mark on one side of the crib, right next to where Harry sat. Remus told Alex that Sirius had given Harry to Hagrid—who Alex had not yet met but Harry had told her about—and then stupidly went after the rat himself. He told her that Harry had been taken to their Aunt and Uncle’s house, which Dumbledore thought was the safest place for him. As for Remus, he said that he was on a mission at the time to try and fight Voldemort and didn’t have any say in anything that was going on.

As Remus finished, silent tears were streaming down his cheeks. As for Alex, she allowed a single drop to fall from her eyes. She hadn’t cried in years, she was amazed that she was still able to. Quietly, she went around the table and pulled up a chair next to Remus. Climbing up, she rested her head on his shoulder and they stayed like that for many minutes.

* * *

Sirius paused in front of Harry’s closed door and knocked. “Harry?” he asked gently. It took a moment, but the door opened as Harry let his godfather in his room. Harry went and slumped on his bed and Sirius sat down next to him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Sirius asked. He would not make Harry talk if he did not want to. Harry hesitated, then nodded his head. Sirius wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him a side hug.

“Sirius, how is it possible to miss people you’ve never met? I miss them  _ so much,  _ but I don’t even remember them…”

“They’re your parents, pup. It’s perfectly normal to miss them-“

“Yeah, but I don’t even  _ remember _ them...” He took a deep breath, suddenly feeling a tightening in his chest. “All those years at the Dursleys, I imagined what it would be like to have a real mum and dad. I would think about what could have happened if they didn’t die, what my life would have been like… And then you came along, you and Remus, and I finally felt like I had a family. But then, everything that happened today just brought back all those emotions and memories, a-and…” Harry broke off with a choked sob and pressed his face into Sirius’s shoulder.

Sirius held him, whispering reassuring phrases as Harry cried, for almost ten minutes. When Harry finally brought his head back up, his eyes were red and puffy and he was rushing out apologies.

“Harry, there’s nothing you need to apologize for. I’m here for you no matter what happens. It’s okay to cry, you miss your parents. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Do you still miss them?” Harry asked, then winced, already knowing the answer. Of course Sirius still missed them, James was like a brother to him. “Sorry, that’s a stupid question.”

“It’s not a stupid question. And, yes, I miss them very much. Everyday.”

Harry nodded and found himself not wanting to talk about his parents anymore. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take before breaking down again. So, they just sat there for a while, in silence.

When they finally got up and moved back downstairs, they found Alex and Remus at the dining table. Alex was propped up against Remus. With her head on his shoulder. They were talking, and Remus let out a small chuckle at something she had said. 

Once Harry and Sirius made their presence known, Alex jumped up and ran over to her brother. She hugged him and he returned it. “Harry, are you alright?”

“I’m okay, Alex. I promise.”


End file.
